Robert S. Austin, my great-granduncle, died on Septmber 1, 1924 having drowned at Long Beach on Long Island, New York.[1] He was born on October 13, 1894 in Lowville, Lewis County, New York to William Dence Austin and Catherine M. Austin (O'Keefe)[2].

"DROWNED AT LONG BEACH

Robert Austin, Formerly of Lowville, Loses Life on Labor Day While Bathing.Robert Austin, 30, son of Mr. and Mrs. William D. Austin, formerly of Lowville, was drowned at Long Beach, L. I., Monday, but no particulars of the accident are at hand. The Austin family removed from this village to New York several years ago. Robert Austin was born here October 13, 1894. At the time of his death he held the responsible position of office manager for the D. W. Griffith Motion Picture Corporation, being in charge of the New York office. He was married about two years ago. Besides his wife and parents he leaves four brothers, Maurice, Harry, Ralph and Lawton, all of New York city."[3]

"ATTENDS AUSTIN FUNERAL

James J. Donnelly, of this village, attended the funeral at Mount Vernon last Thursday of Robert Austin, son of Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Austin, formerly of Lowville, who was drowned on Labor Day at Long Beach in his endeavor to save a young boy from a like death. Mr. Austin was struck by a large comber and the undertow took him out. He was grabbed by several who were near him, and brought to shore, where life guards and doctors worked over him for more than two hours, but were unable to resuscitate him. The force of the wave evidently injured him, and it was impossible to save his life."[4]

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What happens when a “tech guy” with a love for history gets laid off during The Great Recession of 2008? You get Thomas MacEntee, a genealogy professional based in the United States who is also a blogger, educator, author, social media connector, online community builder and more.
Thomas was laid off after a 25-year career in the information technology field, so he started his own genealogy-related business called High Definition Genealogy. He also created an online community of over 3,000 family history bloggers known as GeneaBloggers. His most recent endeavor, Hack Genealogy, is an attempt to “re-purpose today’s technology for tomorrow’s genealogy.”
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